Azerbaijan could acquire vacant gas if it exists during the development of Shah Deniz gas condensate, the Azerbaijani Ministry Industry and of Energy told Trend.
The production of his gas from Shah Deniz field will start from this October and it will be transported via the South Caucasus Pipeline. In compliance with the contract, this gas will be purchased by Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.
However, if one of the sides fails to acquire gas, this portion could be acquired. In this case its cost will be lower due to transportation issues.
According to Michael Sckitmore, the Vice President of BP, which is an operator of the Shah Deniz field development project, this year over 850 million cu m of gas will be produced from the field. The gas production will be launched in the end of the third quarter of 2006. 300 million cu m of the entire production will be given to Azerbaijan, 500 million cu m Turkey and 50 million cu m - Georgia. A definite part of the vacant gas will be sold to BTC Co for use as fuel in the pump stations.